Comments on: Ken Phillips on the car industry

By: Niall

Niall — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 04:50:30 +0000

All very well to claim that politicians and union officials know what needs to be done, however only the vehicle manufacturers themselves are in a position to re-shape their own employment culture. If there really are a plethora of baby-boomers simply waiting for retirement packages – something I find hard to believe, being a tailend boomer myself – then perhaps the big four need to gather up their gonads in both hands and give it to them.

By: observa

observa — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:36:39 +0000

Don’t worry, it’ll all be fixed when our carmakers are signed on to Kyoto emission targets and the Asian ones aren’t. People will want to buy green cars, not those awful, globally warmed ones. You just sort these problems out with sensible Industry Policy, when the individuals involved can’t see the big picture clearly like bureaucrats and mandarins or mandarin speakers.

By: Slim

Slim — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:58:48 +0000

So where are the leaders – political, industrial or otherwise – to rationally analyse the situation, working to gain the confidence of all concerned parties to come up with reasonable solutions to their problems. Retool, retrain, renegotiate workforce transition in a fair and compensated manner with financial assistance from governments. Just fix it. What is there to lose? Oh yeah, the car industry.

Anyone familiar with the state of heavy industry at the outbreak of WWII? At least we had some, but it took a long time to gear it up sufficiently to meet the demand required by the war effort. Australia has to maintain some investment, public included, in the car industry. Who’s to say when it might be necessary, not just convenient? While our Hornets are running out of fuel and crashing into the ocean, we can eagerly await our next shipping import of vehicles to use by troops fending off the invading hordes.

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:16:50 +0000

DD,

I think Ken is blaming the managers too. I certainly would.

By: derrida derider

derrida derider — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:02:26 +0000

“Labour reform” – pah! Code for cutting wages. Of course if we did that then in the very next breath they’ll be asking for government subsidies to overcome “skill shortages” – ie no one wanting to work for those wages.

If Australian car manufacturing can’t compete except by paying below-market wages then they should close so that people can go do something more profitable. Once again we have poor managers blaming their tools – the production workers – for their own lack of foresight. Did they think the dollar was going to stay at 60 cents, and oil at $20 a barrel, for ever?